Millersburg celebrates Arbor Day

By Kevin LynchStaff Writer

Friday

Apr 24, 2020 at 4:36 PMApr 24, 2020 at 5:43 PM

MILLERSBURG — The Millersburg Tree City Committee continued its beautification plan of the village with the planting of a Green Mountain sugar maple tree near Millersburg Elementary School along East Jackson Street on Friday to celebrate Arbor Day.

"Obviously our celebration had a much different look this year given the pandemic," said Mike McDowell, a representative of the Tree Committee, "but we wanted your readers to know that we remain active and engaged."

McDowell said this year committee members Megan Stryker and Kim Kellogg took ownership of the project, and village administrator NateTroyer is always involved in some respect.

"The Millersburg first-graders will each receive a seedling as we have done every year, and Megan deserves a lot of credit for navigating the logistics given the circumstances," McDowell said. "She also coordinated the poster contest and really has done an outstanding job keeping this event as ‘normal’ as possible.

"She had big shoes to fill since Arlie Rodhe historically ran point on this event, but she’s done so admirably," he continued.

Stryker has embraced her role on the Tree City Committee, saying she got involved a few years ago through the Arbor Day celebration at Millersburg Elementary.

"I’m there at the school and already with the first-graders, so it was an easy role for me to fill," she said. "I’m there at the school and have a relationship with the first grade teachers, so I kind of just went with it. No one can truly replace Arlie Rodhe."

She credits her father for helping introduce her to trees as a child, learning to identify various species, and she enjoys sharing that knowledge with the students at Millersburg Elementary.

On a broader perspective, McDowell pointed out that many older and larger trees around Millersburg have been removed last fall and early this spring.

"This was a specific initiative funded by the village as these trees were certified as diseased or ‘problem’ trees that needed to come down," he said. "The village was also able to remove additional trees in tandem with a sidewalk project. Lastly there was a fair amount of stump grinding that also took place, so all-in-all the tree lawns look pretty good."

The tree committee was excited about planting in 2020 and was once again funded $10,000 by the village.

And then the pandemic occurred.

"Given the economic impact the village has wisely shaved our appropriation to $7,000 with those dollars ‘on hold’ for fall planting," McDowell said. "I believe this is good financial stewardship and we have been assured that the village remains committed to our cause. Planting will occur in 2020, but not quite as robustly as originally planned."

McDowell added that various private donations of approximately $5,000 worth of trees are available for immediate planting, including the Arbor Day tree. A dozen or so are slated for the coming weeks.

"Millersburg residents will notice some activity, and that’s a positive," he said. "Councilwoman Kelly Hoffee also donated two replacement trees in front of her home on South Clay which Kim placed a couple of weeks ago; they look very nice."

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